AIB's U-turn not to go cashless in over 40% of its branches around the country was "a good move" for farmers, Cahir Mart manager Jonathan Ryan told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Cahir was one of the towns going to be affected if AIB went ahead with the decision and was also among four branches in Tipperary that were set to change.

There was was a lot of shock among farmers at the mart during the week he said, when AIB announced 70 of its 170 branches across the country would go cashless, leaving them with no other service bar account start-ups.

However, on Friday, AIB announced that it would not go ahead with the plans due to "public unease".

Ryan said that the majority of the mart's business still involved cheques and that it would have been "a huge blow" to its customers.

'Inconvenience'

"Seventy percent of our customers are still using cheques. And that'd be both receiving them for cattle sold or using them for cattle they bought.

"It would have definitely been an inconvenience for people to have to drive to Clonmel to do their business," he said.

Ryan said that if AIB went ahead with its decision, Cahir would have had no bank in the town. Bank of Ireland left Cahir in the last 12 months also.

"From our own business point of view as well, having to travel to lodge cheques and that sort of thing. I can't see the use of cheques being eradicated out of our business yet for a number of years anyway," he said.

Cahir Mart has a sheep sale on a Tuesday and a cattle sale on a Wednesday.

Trade

Trade has come back in the last six weeks compared with what it was, but, thankfully, in the last 10 days prices have firmed up, he said.

"The forward cattle are back a lot... some cattle are back over €300/head. The fall-off in factory price and the cost of feed is definitely on the back of people's minds," he said.